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growth objectives. we offer expertise and tailored solutions for small businesses and major corporations. what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc world news. >> the last stronghold in somalia is stormed by government troops. kenyan and somalia soldiers launch an attack on kismayo. >> looks like the beginning of the end for the control of urban somalia. >> also in the program, the disgraced chinese politician bo xilai is exceled from the

communist party and will face prosecution. with growth at a standstill, political reputations are on the line. the french government sets out its plans for its toughest budget in 30 years. midday here in london, 7:00 in new york, and 2:00 in the afternoon in the somalia city of kismayo. that's where kenyan and somalia government troops have launched an assault. kenyan soldiers and somalia government troops advanced on kismayo from the north, south and from the sea. an army spokesperson said that government forces are expected to take the city within hours. militant fighters are reported to have been seen north of the city. reports now from nairobi. >> the kenya military say they launched in the early hours of friday morning, fighting alongside smally government soldiers, they made advances biland and sea.

his man had so far met no resistance. but the incursions appear for the moment to be confined to the outskirts. they've seen no soldiers advancing inside the city proper. last week, they appeared to be making preparations for an exit, moving out fighters and equipment. but it seems like they will not release kismayo entirely without a fight. it is their last urban stronghold. the port, the second largest in somalia is a crucial source of revenue for whoever controls it. but the fall of kismayo is not necessarily the end of the control. their fighters have in the past withdrawn from towns and cities in the face of superior firepower only to strike back with bombings, shootings, and asi metric warfare. it does look like the beginning

of the end of control, but the question is what happens then? for the new smally government it will be to reassure local residents. for the kenyan troops who now look set to take control of kismayo, that may prove to be a harder task than the cap sure of the city itself. >> we go to a base near kismayo where the colonel joins us. can you tell us what is happening now? >> right now, forces together with somalia forces are in areas where they occupy and trying to funnel out into other parts of the city. >> describe the fighting to me. have you had many casualties on your side?

>> since we got on to the town at 2:00 a.m. in the morning there has been no major resistance. however our air force have been unable to take hold of some key targets in the city. but in terms of ground engagement there has been no major resistance. >> what made you make this move now? >> hello? >> hello, can you hear me colonel? >> yeah. >> what's made you make this move now? >> i didn't get that one down, what did you ask? >> i just want to know why have you moved in to this area now? >> why have we moved? >> into this area now.

>> i didn't get the question, -- >> ok, colonel, i think we've got a few problems, technical problems at the moment communicating. thank you very much for the information you've given us so far. of course, we'll have much more on this story over the next hours on "bbc world news" and bring you up to date. so let's take a look at some of the other stories making headlines around the world today. now, another development in the biggest political scandal seen in china for decades has taken place. the chinese state news agency reports that the former prominent politician bo xilai has been exceled from the ruling communist party and is to face justice. he's been under investigation for party disciplinary offenses. recently his wife was convicted of murdering a british businessman. our correspondent is in beijing. martin, this is such a significant development because

we've seen what happened to his wife. we heard about the chief of police as well who was also involved, his right hand man, bo xilai's right hand man and now bo xilai comes under scrutiny. >> well, that's right. and in many ways the party has thrown the bucket at him. he's now facing a slew of criminal charges. carried out by the party. party officials are first investigated by the party and then they're handed over to the courts which is going to happen to bo xilai. at one point he has the party also control the courts. but a slew charges against him. they've accused him of taking enormous amounts of bribes, as well as his family. it's worth pointing out before this huge scandal, if not its biggest in over a decade, bo xilai was one of the most powerful politicians in china and he had been expected to join

the standing committee. that's a nine-member body that effectively runs the country. and that leadership transition, that leadership change will start this november. and that announcement has just been made by the chinese state media. it's interesting, to give you some sense of the importance of all of this, it was announced that the party congress, the once in a decade leadership change will start in november. that was number one story. number two story, on the main news bulletin here in china was that bo xilai had been kicked out of the party and will now face criminal charges. >> martin, if it's all changed and that's what the chinese authority wants us to know, what should we expect to be different? >> well, what's interesting is that this whole scandal has exposed murder, corruption and cover-up at the very heart of power in china. bo xilai was no order politician. he was tipped for the very top. he would maintain, i'm sure his

supporters maintain that he's been brought down by this scandal for political and not criminal reasons. he was an incredibly charismatic politician, and some argue that worked against him, particularly against other chinese politicians. he made enemies. but what's clear now is the party want to shutdown these damaging revelations. the last thing they want to be seen doing is overshadowing a once in a decade leadership change which will start with the party congress in november. >> martin, i know you'll be following events very closely. always good to speak to you, thanks very much. well, the financial market and the french leck rate will be scrutinizing detail as what's been described as france's toughest budget in 30 years. he must present a credible plan to tackle the country's massive debt, a stagnant economy, record unemployment, all while being

very mindful of his plunging popularity. christian is with me now from paris. so the details are coming in. what are we hearing? >> well, it's not a package that cuts as wide or deep as we've seen in italy, greece, and spain. remember, that this was a president that came to power promising to sweep away and boost growth. now they're having to do it while reassuring a very skeptical public. 10 billion euros in spending cuts today. 20 billion euros of tax rises. 10 billion of that will go onto business, and of course there is that much promised higher rate of the tax. 75% for those who earn more than a million euros. the prime minister knows he's under pressure. this is what he had to say after they presented the budget to the counsel administrators.

>> it's also a budget which asks for some efforts. but this effort is fair. the middle of working classes will be spared income tax rises. 90% of taxable households will not pay more tax. this is our guarantee to the french people. on the other hand, we are asking the richest to make an effort. so the effort we're asking people to make is necessary and fair. >> ok, so the richest 10% pay more tax. this seems as if this is a government that's very mindful of trying to maintain some popularity, the popularity is plunging. but economists will be asking is this enough? is this enough to help the country out? >> well, you're right. they are mindful of the sort of that we saw in madrid this week.

when we saw them talking about the middle class not being punished, you can't -- that's the highest figure it's been since france joined the euro. so they are being punished. in terms of going forward, is it enough? well, that depends on whether growth recovers. the president has said they down graded growth next year from 1% to 1.8%. but we just had confirmation that the second quarter was flat. that's nine kecty months of stagnation. unless they turn that around, this budget probably isn't enough and they will break promises that they've made to brussels. at the moment, the interest rates on the debt, which is at about 90% are pretty low, a historical low. that's because people are looking for safer havens away from the likes of italy and spain.

you can expect those interest rates to start rising. that will be significant indeed for the future of the eurozone. >> absolutely. how often have we heard, off of the zureo zone countries breaking word to brussels. christian, i'm sure we'll speak very soon. typical, isn't it? these countries struggling with budgets. christian was mentioning the worries of spain, obviously still mindful when leaders are looking at what's going on. >> the spanish, we've been looking at the market have been very tentative of what's come out of the budget in france. pretty much as expected as vote the level of taxation and the real worry is whether the growth can actually produce the kind of income which would allow them to be able to reduce the deficit level down to 3% of g.d.p. from 4.5% which is where it is at the moment. the feeling at the moment is it

probably won't. let's shift attention over to spain where we had the budget yesterday. generally speaking people were very favorable about the budget, but -- us asterity measures were those ones this would be conditions for a bailout. so a bailout was coming along and so therefore that's what happening. however, the next thing in line, probably after the market's closed, got to be the stress test on the banks. nobody really knows how deeply in debt banks are. how much bad debt they've got out there. could be anything, 150 billion euros there talking about an enormous. >> talking to banks, i'm thinking of the trouble that banks are getting themselves into over this liable scandal. >> yes. will, libel, of course the race at which the banks lend to each

other, and it was established by the british banks and them saying this is what we're lending out. they roughly average it together, come out with the libel rates. they're now changing the way that's being organized because it must be run in a self regulatory fashion. they're going to stop that. but the way in which it used to be run, a contrast to what it will be run now, this is how one man described it -- >> why things become self regulated is because you get invasion and it moves very fast. and it becomes a big thing before the regulators have noticed it. they don't have the process for regulating it. we've all got new structures in place here in the u.k., in the u.s., and in europe. so it's going to be their job now to notice these things building up. because obviously next time it's not going to be libel. it will be something completely

different. >> ron caplan there of course. recognize the next problem when it comes along. fingers crossed. >> that's all we can do. jamie, thanks very much. still to come -- a plane crash in nepal kills all on board, some of the 19 victims were british and chinese. we're asking if the famous shoe collection of imelda marcus is worth saving. her son thinks he's shocked that they don't think it's important. the national museum recently admitted that some of the belongings in the collection have been damaged. >> all these shoes once belonged to imelda marcos. she's said to have had 3,000 pairs before the couple was ousted from office. now, more than 25 years later, they're still one of the most iconic images of the

philippines. but the collection not as much of a luxury. many of the shoes need to be repaired. after they fled the country, they were taken over by the state and the national museum has now admitted that some have been eaten by termites and others damaged in recent floods. >> it won't be as perfect or as good as knew because we can't change the materials. if we could, we would. but we're limited to just restoring them. >> her shoes became such a phenomenon because they were seen as a symbol of her lavish life style. while she was great in designer outfits and meeting world leaders, back at home, there was martial law and millions lived in poverty. her shoes may be worse for wear but i imelda herself is still

going strong. aged 83, she has a seat in congress, and her family remains an important force in philippine politics. i imelda may outlive her shoes, but the legacy surrounding them is still very much intact. >> you're watching g.m.t. from "bbc world news." here are the headlines. kenyan and somalia troops enter the lost major stronghold in the port of kismayo. chinese state media say the fall of bo xilai is to be expelled from the communist party and will face prosecution. 19 people have been killed in a plane crash on the outskirts of

nepal. a place spokesperson said the small aircraft caught fire within two minutes of taking off. the plane was flying near mount everest. alexander mchenry reports. >> engulfed in flames, the plane came down minutes after the takeoff, just over a mile from the airport. it crashed into a river bank and caught fire. onlookers were shocked by what they saw. this eyewitness said the flames were high and burnt all parts of the plane. there were 16 passengers onboard, most of those were believed to have been foreign nationals from britain and china. there were also three crew members. the pilots had reported a collision with a bird to air traffic control before the plane crashed. the airport manager said the

plane was attempting to return to the airport. investigators are working to determine the cause of the crash. soldiers and police are searching the wreckage, looking for documents to help identify the victims. it's believed they were going trekking in the everest region. the start of the season when thousands of climbers head to the peaks. alexandra mchenry, "bbc news." >> andrew, what more can you tell us? >> well, we're hearing now from nepalese officials that they have recovered the data recorders, the flight recorders from the aircraft so they can start to find out what happened. and they're saying the only indications are that the crash happened as the plane was trying to return to the airport. it made a turn after what accomplishments described as technical glitches.

now as you reported there, we are hearing that a bird may have hit the plane. that's being looked into as one possible cause of the crash. aviation experts that i've been talking to are saying that it's very unlikely that a bird could bring down a propeller plane like this. one i spoke to said they had never heard of this in more than 30 years of the industry. that doesn't rule it out, but it's possible there are other causes. the other point to make here is that this plane is capable of flying with just one engine. there are questions over the safety record of some of the small companies runs these planes to other small air strips around the region. >> andrew, of course, it's not the first time we've heard of an air disaster in this region.

>> that's right. just four months ago there was another crash in which 15 people were killed. again, involving small aircraft. now, there are every day planes flying out to air strips across the country that manage to take off and land safety. it's a trip i've done many times in the past traveling to the place where the british, the chinese, the nepalese, on this plane were going this morning. in fact, the most dangerous part of that journey is normally the landing. a very treacherous small landing strip high in the mountains that is a gate way to the everest region. normally the problems are not at takeoff. so that's another reason why they're going to have to look very cozy. there could be any reason, many reasons behind why this has

happened. as things stand at the moment, the british authorities are now confirming that seven british nationals were killed in that crash, along with seven nepalese and five chinese. >> andrew, i know you're going to be following this closely and keeping us up to date. thanks very much. other news now, gunmen have attacked a prison overnight in an iraqi city killing several guards and freing dozens of inmates. a senior official then told bbc that seven guards were killed. the attacks began with a car bomb outside the prison. this hasn't been confirmed. fighting has been reported in syria's second city a day after the army says a decisive battle has begun. both describe it as ununand said rebel fighters were attacking them on several fronts.

u.n. says the number of people fleeing could exceed 700,000 by the end of the year. police in minute annapolis in the united states four people have been shot dead after a gunman opened fire inside a sign making business. police say the victim were discovered. the gunman fatally shot himself after the attack. >> we pray for those who are in the hospital! >> a community in shock. it was here a gunman opened fire inside a minneapolis sign making business before shooting himself. >> i was just taking my pictures by the old elevator wearhouse. i heard about four or five gun shots. and we look at each other but we're in shock. >> on thursday evening, police held a news conference outside the company just hours after the shooting. >> i can confirm the shooter is dead.

he died by a gun shot wound, self infliggetted. we got 5911 call from inside the business that there was a shooting going on inside and were able to gain entrance and establish we do have several victims inside. >> the major assured people that the area was civil. >> the neighborhood as i mentioned is secure. and will be returning torell tive calm. but obviously we will have a horrible crime scene that we'll be dealing with overtime. >> questions remain over exactly what happened. police have released few details about the victims nor the gunman. his possible motive or whether he was an employee. meanwhile, three more people remain in hospital in a critical condition. >> the rover on mars has found clear evidence that water once flowed over the surface of the planet. curiosity has sent back spectacular photographs of

rounded bebles which scientists say were given their shape by water erosion. here's more. >> sticking out of the ground, it's just another rock. but to nasa scientists it's as if they've struck gold. the roverer has barely begun its investigation of mars and already has found clues to the planets wet and warm past. look closely and the rock is made up of lots of small pebbles, which can mean only one thing. >> the key come pones of these gravels are one, the ground and shape, but also the size. these are too large to be transported by wind. the these are water transported gravel. >> the scientists will use their knowledge of how streams move and shape pebbles on earth to work out what the martian stream might have looked like. they'll also get the rover to run a series over tests, to gage the likely chemistry of the

ancient water streams. then we'll tell them what the environment was like on mars billions of years ago. jonathan amos, "bbc news." >> also interesting to know what was out there once. stay with us on "bbc world news." there's plenty more to come. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/international news. funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard

to understand the industry you operate in, working to nurture new ventures and help provide capital for key decisions. we offer expertise and tailored in a wide raping of industries. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was presen